


Contemplating

by Anniss



Series: Chatfics, kittens and BenRook [2]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: 4am adventures, Angst, M/M, chatfic, chatfic but with actual paragraphs of writing too, the sequel im not sure anyone asked for, this fic is way angstier than it has any right to be and im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anniss/pseuds/Anniss
Summary: It was one of those nights. Ben found himself glancing out his bedroom window at the neighbourhood, dark except for neatly lined street lamps. A quick glance over at his old digital clock told him the time. 3.39am. What a shitty time to be awake. However, here he was, and he didn’t know how to fall asleep.





	Contemplating

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I warn you, this fic isn't all that fluffy. A little bit but not much.
> 
> Normal text is Ben and bold is Rook!

It was one of those nights. Ben found himself glancing out his bedroom window at the neighbourhood, dark except for neatly lined street lamps. A quick glance over at his old digital clock told him the time. 3.39am. What a shitty time to be awake. However, here he was, and he didn’t know how to fall asleep. Or, well, perhaps if his mind could shut up for a couple of hours he could get some rest, but it seemed like it didn’t have any plans to be quiet, so here he was. He sighed, and eyed his phone. It might be partially to blame for his awful sleeping habits, but it was also a nice distraction as he waited until he was tired enough to fall asleep. He dug his face into his pillow as he grabbed the phone, taking a moment to breathe before he looked up. His eyes burned, but he ignored them.

 

He swiped between pages, looking at his apps, wondering what he wanted to occupy himself with now. He contemplated just watching a show, but instead tapped into his messages. He wasn’t sure if anyone would even be awake at this point. He tried anyways.

 

[03.44] Hey Rook, u awake?

 

He felt like Rook would be forgiving about being texted at an ungodly hour, hopefully. Ben just stared at the screen, idly awaiting any sign of life. Time passed so strangely at night. After a while Ben felt himself deflate, disappointed, and typed up his apology.

 

[03.50] I suppose not, sorry

[03.50] dont worry, it wasn’t anything special.

 

He put away the phone, and turned away from it, staring at the wall. It was just normal that people slept at this hour, and Ben squashed the tiny sliver of dumb betrayal he felt. When the roof lit up, he wondered if there was lightning outside, but then he heard a telltale buzz, and it was almost embarrassing how fast he turned and grabbed his phone.

 

[03.52] **Sorry Ben, I was sleeping.**

[03.52] **What did you want to talk about?**

 

Now that was a great question Ben wasn’t sure he had the answer to.

 

[03.53] dude thats a dumb thing to apologize for

[03.53] **??**

[03.53] I should be the one apologizing. It was I that woke you up

[03.54] sorry

[03.54] please go back to sleep.

[03.54] **I don't feel like it anymore. Are you okay?**

[03.55] i promise its ok

[03.55] i forgot what I wanted to say anyways

[03.55] **Ben.**

[03.55] ?

 

He just stared at his screen as Rook’s reply took its merry time to arrive. The longer it took, the more anxious Ben became. He hadn’t planned for Rook to be so serious about this, and his backpedalling didn’t seem to be working right now. It was a dumb and impulsive choice, like so many of his choices before, to reach out while he was feeling down. He hated being so conflicted, if he could just decide what he wanted his life would be a lot easier.

 

[03.57] **I am sorry if I am reading this wrong, but if anything is troubling you, anything at all, I am completely willing to listen. There is little I can do over a messenger, but if I can be any comfort at all, I am more than grateful enough for that.**

[03.58] **I am not mad or annoyed that you woke me up, and I promise I will never share anything you tell me without your permission.**

[03.58] **Please know that, even if you do not wish to talk right now.**

 

Ben had no idea how to reply to that. It was so heartfelt and genuine that half assed jokes or excuses felt inappropriate. He wasn’t even entirely sure he deserved this.

 

[03.59] I

[03.59] uh

[03.59] I just wanted a distraction

[03.59] didnt feel like watching a show

[04.00] **I see.**

[04.00] **I heard the mission today went well. However I also heard someone got thrown through a few walls. Comments?**

[04.00] nothing out of the ordinary, no need to worry about me. Didnt even get a single scratch, Humungousaur is a tough guy

[04.01] **You mean you are a tough guy?**

[04.01] Flattery! I like it

[04.01] **I am rolling my eyes as we speak.**

[04.02] I imagine youre smiling too ;)

[04.02] **You imagined right.**

 

Okay time for Ben to stop imagining Rook smiling, and also stop fishing for compliments Rook apparently was willing to hand out right now. It did evil things to Ben.

 

[04.03] How are the kittens and their mama doing?

[04.03] **They are doing fine, I assume. The vet said so, so I trust their professional opinion.**

[04.03] Good choice, they probs know what they’re doin

[04.03] **They weren’t too happy with the shots, but it’s for their best.**

[04.04] i dont like shots either tbh. not a fan of being stabbed in general!

[04.04] **I might understand your reasoning behind that. It is not too pleasant to be stabbed.**

[04.04] This sounds like it has story behind it, and I wanna hear it....

[04.04] **It is a long tale, and I would much rather tell it in-person. I can tell you that it was not a very heroic moment, however.**

[04.04] oh lemme guess

[04.05] Farming accident? Small rook giant scythe thing?

[04.05] **I am surprised that you are correct.**

[04.05] oh wow now I’m really looking forwards to this story dude.

[04.05] I wanna tell it to Gwen too, can I??

[04.06] **As much as I want to keep the amount of people having blackmail on me as low as possible, I suppose you will tell her either way.**

[04.06] If you don’t want me to, I wont share it dude, no worries!

[04.06] **It is fine, Ben. I do not mind at all.**

[04.06] You sure?

[04.07] **Completely.**

[04.07] >:3c

 

Ben found himself smiling, yet even silly texting weren’t helping him sleep. He dropped his hands to his chest, the light from his phone muffled by the t-shirt he was sleeping in. He stared at the roof, the stinging of his eyes momentarily soothed. It wasn’t gone, screaming for him to _go to sleep already_ , but he had mastered ignoring it. He dropped his head to the side, and gazed out the window at the street lamp. It was calm. There was his heartbeat. It was moments like these he noticed it. That, or intergalactic near-death experiences. Oh hey, his phone was buzzing too. It was rude to leave someone hanging, so he flipped it back up.

 

[04.07] **:P**

 

Oh hey, there were the smilies again. Ben had noticed Rook getting more and more adept at using them.

 

[04.08] **Luckily I believe both of us do not have scheduled job tomorrow, or later today rather, or it would be an interesting (and overall painful) day.**

[04.11] **I spoke too soon, seems you might have gone to bed.**

[04.12] nah bro, I’m still here

[04.12] just needed a moment to think

[04.12] **Dare I ask what you thought about?**

 

Well, there was the elephant in the room, and the reason why he had contacted Rook to begin with. One part of him was screaming at him not to say anything, to stay quiet, but he had reached out because he wanted to talk about it right? However he didn’t wish to pull all his baggage on someone else. Ben groaned.

 

[04.12] Stuff.

[04.12] **Bad stuff?**

[04.13] yup

[04.13] **Something to do with recent events, or just life in general?**

[04.13] life in general, I suppose.

[04.13] but I also thought about heartbeats

[04.13] **Oh?**

[04.14] Rook how many hearts do you have?

[04.14] **Only one, last time I checked.**

[04.14] So only one heartbeat.

[04.14] **Yep.**

 

Ben took a deep breath. Nice segue, dude, you avoided the issue again, very smart. He held that breath as his fingers typed, flying over the screen faster than his brian could follow.

 

[04.15] i just wanted someone to talk to because I cant sleep because i cant stop thinking about things and its really annoying and im really annoying and im sorry, but I trust you

[04.15]  **...**

 

Here it goes, Ben just had to open that beautiful can of worms. Him, who rescues the world on regular basis and oozed confidence was sitting here like a child not able to sleep because he was “thinking things”. Wow, how mature of him-

 

[04.15] **I cannot claim I am an expert at dealing with such problems, nor at helping others with them.**

[04.16] **However, I would like to try.**

[04.16] Nah its fine ill try sleeping again

[04.16] **You do what you want to, I can not stop you, but if you find out you will not be able to sleep, I am pretty sure I have a frozen pizza in the freezer, some soda in the fridge and that movie you thought I should rent sitting in the living room.**

 

Ben tried to swallow down a lump that had formed in his throat, trying his best to stay composed, but finding it a much more difficult task than the mission from yesterday. He really wanted to accept, but he knew he should reject. It was just one of those things he knew he should, yet he was finding it hard to tap the send button at his half-assed excuse.

 

[04.16] **I am sure none of the kittens would complain about seeing their favorite uncle again.**

 

Come on Ben, it was just a single tap.

 

[04.17] **I would not mind seeing you either.**

 

Ben’s finger pressed down, but it wasn’t the send button. He saw the message be erased about as quickly as he had typed it. It was gone. Instead he slowly typed another one as the screen became increasingly more blurred and difficult to see. He blinked once, and it became clear again as he pressed send this time.

 

[04.17] okay. Okay that would be nice.

 

A wave of both relief and anxiety washed over him as soon as he saw the read mark behind the message, knowing Rook had gotten it. However, soon messages from Rook came in a hurry, asking him different things like how he was going to get there, and if he wanted Rook to come pick him up and if orange soda was okay. Ben assured him that orange soda was fine, and that he could just use XLR8 to get there in no time. Ben got out of bed, and threw on something casual, smiling as he looked down on his phone. Rook promised he’d start on the pizza, and Ben was sure there was even a smiley in there.

 

[04.21] **Oh, Ben, you are sure you are okay with this? You do not have to do it for my sake.**

[04.21] No, its okay, thank you. Ill be over in a sec.

 

And with that Ben put away his phone and got out of his room. He left a note for his mom, explaining where he had went and most of the reason why. As he locked the door behind him and transformed into XLR8, thank Azmuth the omnitrix didn’t throw a tantrum, he thanked the universe that past all the endless nothingness there was still room for people like Rook, and that Ben through some sort of miracle had gotten to meet him and get to know him.

 

Not everyone got to have people close to them like Rook, and Ben was sure grateful that he did.

**Author's Note:**

> Again thanks for reading, and sorry for those that have had to wait wayyy too long for this sequel.  
> Will there be another one? Will I finish Loose your head in the void?? Who knows.


End file.
